Captain's Comments: Mile Jedinak

8 April 2016

Mile Jedinak brings us his latest column of the season from the matchday programme as he writes his captain's comments for the game against Norwich City.

We had two wins from two which was great; we convincingly beat Tajikistan 7-0 before winning 2-0 against Jordan in front of some good crowds back home, so we’re pleased with how the week went. We’re now through to the next round of qualification and that’s the final phase before the World Cup, so things are going nicely on that front.

In the Tajikistan game, as well as getting a goal from the penalty spot, I managed to tie the Palace international cap record which is a great honour, and now I might get the chance to break it against England in our next game at the end of the season. That’s something to get excited about and if I’m going to break the record, it’ll be nice to do it in the country where I ply my trade.

I picked up a little niggle ahead of the game against Jordan regarding my back and we couldn’t take the risk with it, because I knew that when I got back home I’d be alright.

That proved to be the case when I played against West Ham United last weekend and as I came off at the end I was pleased because it felt like a game where the performance was good, people got into the right positions and worked hard for each other.

After we went behind we showed great character and resilience in not just getting the equaliser but trying to go on and get another one, and even though we came up a bit short, after going in at half-time behind it was a great response. Dwight’s goal changed the game but after that we looked the side that was more likely to score the next one and that was very encouraging for me.

The rest of our games for the remainder of the campaign are going to be huge ones and Norwich are first up. It’ll be difficult as they’re fighting to stay in the division and are on the back of some very good results, but that’s something you don’t really notice when you’re on the field. You need to try and block all that out and concentrate on the 90 minutes ahead, and that’s what we’ve been doing so we’ll try to do our upmost to gain three points.

It’s also important for us to gain some momentum going into the semi-final in a few weeks’ time but the most important game to us right now is this one so we can’t look too far ahead.

As well as the big game this afternoon, today sees the club recognise the work of Kick It Out, football’s equality organisation.

As a squad, we all support the work Kick It Out are doing throughout all levels of the game. Discrimination has no place in football, and if we can do anything as a squad to share that message, we’re more than happy to do it.